One of the perks of being a lifelong resident of Indianapolis is that you usually have a pretty good ear to the ground when it comes to the goings-on down at the racetrack – I have at least 5 friends whose jobs are directly related to racing, and anything even remotely interesting that happens at the track usually makes it to the local news (even a dog getting loose on the track and delaying practice for 15 minutes…true story).

Occasionally, this connection pays off – as it did a couple weeks ago, when a friend who works very closely with the racing industry (I won’t give any more detail than that, lest I inadvertently get this friend in trouble) mentioned to me in passing that DWTS had been shopping around to cast another racing driver for season 23. Said friend mentioned that they were looking at Indycar, and the name that he/she kept hearing was James Hinchcliffe’s. Given that Hinch was spotted in the audience this past season (see below), I don’t think it’s entirely unbelievable that the show might be angling to cast him. Interestingly, James also favorited/responded to some interesting tweets asking if he would do the show – including one of mine:

For those who aren’t familiar with Indycar or are asking “So why would DWTS cast him?”, let me give you a crash course (no pun intended…ok, maybe a little) in Hinch: he’s Canadian, he’s basically the face of Indycar right now, he has a podcast, he has his own beer, he was on Family Feud recently, and the dude’s hilarious. Charisma for DAYS. Oh, he also almost died in a crash last year and has made a recovery that is nothing short of miraculous. And with Indycar experiencing a resurgence in popularity in the past year, while NASCAR continues to decline in viewership, and the with the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 making the news? He’s got relevance. So to recap: big personality? Check. Relevance? Check. Amazing backstory? Check. Even if this is the extent of his dance ability heading into the show, who the hell even cares? I’d probably laugh my ass off just listening to him read the phone book. 😛

Schedule-wise, it might be a bit of a challenge at first – the Indycar season doesn’t end until September 18 (in Sears Point, California…not too much of a trek from L.A.), so his partner might have to do some traveling with him prior to the start of the season and for the first week of the season; interestingly enough, the penultimate race of the Indycar season is on September 4 in Watkins Glen, New York…last year’s fall cast announcement was on September 2 on GMA, in NYC. See what I’m getting at here? 😉 For what it’s worth, the 2007 Indycar season didn’t end until September 9, and the season 5 cast announcement was on August 29…so Helio was in a similar position and had to rehearse with Julianne concurrently with the Indycar season. Ditto for the All-Star season – cast was announced on July 27, Indycar season didn’t end until September 15, season 15 premiered on September 24. So a bit of overlap between the seasons doesn’t necessarily negate the possibility of him doing the show. It’s also worth mentioning that Michael Waltrip had quite a bit of overlap with the NASCAR season when he did season 19.

If, for whatever reason, they opt not to cast Hinch (or he declines), there’s still some other casting possibilities within Indycar – you might remember that Tony Kanaan was a rumor a few years back, and nothing really came of it; he’s still very much an Indycar fan favorite, and recently appeared on both American Ninja Warrior and Family Feud. Also noteworthy? Alexander Rossi, the winner of the 100th running of the Indy 500 and the first rookie to win the Indy 500 since Helio won it back in 2001 – I could see the show running with that buzzworthy fact. Granted, I personally just don’t find either to be as interesting a casting as Hinch (though TK comes close), but they’re options nonetheless.

So what do you guys think? Do you think Hinch or another Indycar driver would be a good get for this season? Who would you like to see him paired with, if he is cast?

Once again, comment to your hearts contents, as long as you remember the show night rules. Also, for tonight, I’ve turned on comment moderation which means your post won’t show up immediately. At the end of the season we always seem to have an influx of trouble makers. Even MORE important that you don’t hit refresh constantly.

Our server gets totally hosed when people sit at their computer and click “refresh” constantly. Post a comment, then walk away for five minutes so that others have a chance…and so that Courtney and I can actually post on the site. 🙂

THIS SITE IS NOT TWITTER. Do not post like you are on twitter. You get one warning and then I put you in time out. 🙂 We need context and content. Believe it or not there are a lot of people who don’t watch the east coast feed of the show, so they don’t know what the hell you’re talking about when you post a comment that says, “Boy, that sucked.” If you want to say “____ and ____’s dance was not good at all, crappy choreo” that’s fine. That would be context. It is good. 😀 Remember, if you post five one liners in five minutes, you’ve broken rule number 1. 😉

This road to the finals thing is BORING!!

Awww…Sadie has really brought out a nice side of Mark. I’ve really loved them this season.

Trying to actually watch the show a bit….Opening number was rather underwhelming. Well, a lot underwhelming.

That behind the scenes thing…can’t tell if that’s forshadowing an Alfonso loss or a win. Really hard to tell. They’ve gotten so predictable that I actually expect them to be unpredictable. Sadly, I don’t think they’re that smart.

Damn, Bethany actually improved on that amazing freestyle. Best one won, I think, although Sadie and Alfonso weren’t far off.

Is it funny or annoying that they completely edited out the total screw up by production and just made it look like Bethany messed up. Bastards.

Sorry, got distracted by shirtless Derek on All Access. Where are we? 😉

And someday people will listen to what we say around these parts. Just sayin’. 🙂 We said 3rd and 4th places were between Janel and Bethany and that Sadie and Alfonso would be the last two standing. If it sounds like I’m saying “I told you so”….it’s because I am. 🙂

AND THE WINNER IS….

ALFONSO AND WITNEY!!!

Congratulations to Alfonso and Witney…and Sadie and Mark, for that matter.

Alfonso’s crying, Lindsay and Witney are screaming at each other (cute) and Derek is a bit late to lift Witney on his shoulders, but he doesn’t disappoint us yet again. And many kudos to Tony for working with Keo to lift Alfonso on his shoulders.

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I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

Once again, comment to your hearts contents, as long as you remember the show night rules. Also, for tonight, I’ve turned on comment moderation which means your post won’t show up immediately. At the end of the season we always seem to have an influx of trouble makers. Even MORE important that you don’t hit refresh constantly.

Our server gets totally hosed when people sit at their computer and click “refresh” constantly. Post a comment, then walk away for five minutes so that others have a chance…and so that Courtney and I can actually post on the site. 🙂

THIS SITE IS NOT TWITTER. Do not post like you are on twitter. You get one warning and then I put you in time out. 🙂 We need context and content. Believe it or not there are a lot of people who don’t watch the east coast feed of the show, so they don’t know what the hell you’re talking about when you post a comment that says, “Boy, that sucked.” If you want to say “____ and ____’s dance was not good at all, crappy choreo” that’s fine. That would be context. It is good. 😀 Remember, if you post five one liners in five minutes, you’ve broken rule number 1. 😉

Power rankings will be coming up later tonight and the final “Dancing by the Numbers” should go up around noon eastern time tomorrow. Just FYI.

Artem, you ain’t all that. Love how the camera cut away before he could get his shirt all the way off. 🙂

And of course, production completely blows the start to Bethany’s dance, throwing her off. Jaysus people this is the finale. WTF is wrong with you?? Read more..

Share this:

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

Once again, comment to your hearts contents, as long as you remember the show night rules.

Our server gets totally hosed when people sit at their computer and click “refresh” constantly. Post a comment, then walk away for five minutes so that others have a chance…and so that Courtney and I can actually post on the site. 🙂

THIS SITE IS NOT TWITTER. Do not post like you are on twitter. You get one warning and then I put you in time out. 🙂 We need context and content. Believe it or not there are a lot of people who don’t watch the east coast feed of the show, so they don’t know what the hell you’re talking about when you post a comment that says, “Boy, that sucked.” If you want to say “____ and ____’s dance was not good at all, crappy choreo” that’s fine. That would be context. It is good. 😀 Remember, if you post five one liners in five minutes, you’ve broken rule number 1. 😉

Boy, Sadie had me worried as she was all up in her own head, but man, she pulled it OUT. Great quickstep!!

For both Sadie and Bethany, CAI manages to sound disappointed when they do well. Ugh. And the underscoring continues. Seriously?? Why?

Damn, Tommy Chong, I don’t even know what that was supposed to be, but I agree with the roar of the crowd! Think he’s going home, though, just listening to what the judges are saying.

Two weeks in a row in the crappy spot for Beth and Derek. Kinda worried about this treatment, I must say. They’re still in “Pimp Janel at all costs” mode.

Derek and Beth’s Samba was super cute!! Lots of content! The song is awful though for the Samba – and they’re going to get totally hosed for it. CAI just hates the two young girls. Len of course didn’t like the fluffing about.

I can live with 9’s but I think they’re grading the song and the feel more than the actual dancing. Bad song for a Samba.

Okay, Janel got a bit out of sync and stumbled at one point, but I doubt it will be noted. But she did get a more appropriate song. CAI is definitely on the Janel train. Me, not so much. LOL to Len and his comment about Maks. Truer words were never spoken.

Honestly don’t get the raves – I thought it was a bit dull. But then I’m clearly not a Janel fan.

A perfect score? Really?? This is absurd. There just wasn’t much to that dance. Either she’s going home…or she’s going on tour and they need her to get close to winning. Seriously pushing her through to the top three. As of right now she’s 3 and 4 points ahead of Sadie and Bethany, respectively. I’m thinking the judges want either Beth or Sadie in the final – not both. Bastards.

Alfonso did a great job for having back pain. Hell, he did better than Janel, IMO. WTF, Julianne?? I think she’s sitting to close to CAI – didn’t understand what she said at all.

Damn, I’m a huge Sadie fan but I did not like that AT. The guitar was way too distracting and she messed up quite a few steps in the beginning. Got to agree with Len. It was a little too soft too.

Great job from Tommy and Peta! Wow. I’m really impressed. And he’s at 76!! Loved it.

LOL to Tom taking a shot at Val and Maks. Hehehehe….

Holy shit, Tommy got 9’s!! I guess he’s going home. Damn.

New Christmas wish – that Derek doesn’t do this show next season. This show doesn’t actually deserve him any more. It doesn’t deserve Mark either, for that matter.

Bethany’s package made me a bit weepy. Kids are so damn mean.

That was lovely. She’ll get hosed. Again, CAI sounds upset that she actually danced well. Idiot.

Happy to be wrong – perfect score for Beth. About to be totally ruined by another perfect score for the chosen one.

Much better dance for Val and Janel than the first one but still not perfect. It felt sloppy to me…and it was too short with Val playing the violin. Agreed with CAI for a change on the ungraceful part – too many lifts that she came out of roughly.

But I have to say that the unplugged is VERY hard for an Argentine Tango. Best one I’ve ever seen was Derek and Jennifer. I didn’t see anything in this dance that had never been done before, either.

Two 10s for Janel is, once again, ridiculous. But she’s only two points ahead of Bethany. That’s doable. Unless they’ve underplayed Beth so much that she’s not getting the votes. Sadie?? Could have a problem, but I think she’s beating Beth and Janel in votes, so I guess we’ll see.

Again, Alfonso does really well but you can tell he’s injured, I think. But still a great job. Whitney is really impressing me a lot this season.

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I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

Once again, comment to your hearts contents, as long as you remember the show night rules.

Our server gets totally hosed when people sit at their computer and click “refresh” constantly. Post a comment, then walk away for five minutes so that others have a chance…and so that Courtney and I can actually post on the site. 🙂

THIS SITE IS NOT TWITTER. Do not post like you are on twitter. You get one warning and then I put you in time out. 🙂 We need context and content. Believe it or not there are a lot of people who don’t watch the east coast feed of the show, so they don’t know what the hell you’re talking about when you post a comment that says, “Boy, that sucked.” If you want to say “____ and ____’s dance was not good at all, crappy choreo” that’s fine. That would be context. It is good. 😀 Remember, if you post five one liners in five minutes, you’ve broken rule number 1. 😉

And Tommy and Peta have made it to the Semi-Final. Oh Dear.

I have to believe this means Lea is going home – but you just never know.

Alfonso’s foxtrot was just delightful. Wonderful. Loved it. OMG, CAI – you pretty much suck. Are you kidding me??

Okay, I thought Alfonso was slightly underscored, but I would have to watch it again.

Oh, yeah, I def want to see Janel and Val kiss because it’s so unique and different. :::rolls eyes:::

Lordy, Tommy was lookin pretty good in the package…

I just love tommy. He got tired about halfway through, but that wasn’t horrible.

Lea is still to delicate. Very pretty – perhaps too pretty. Not raunchy enough.

Fierce?? I don’t think so. But the score is probably about right.

Something felt strange about Beth’s dance – loved it, but something was weird. Perhaps it’s just so absurdly SHORT. They all are. Len was in Austria?? LOL. I sense 9’s across the board.

And what the hell? Derek is working some seriously ungroomed scruff. I’m okay with this.

Sadie is too cute. I swear. There were a few instances where her long limbs got a bit in the way, but it was a very cute dance. Loved it.

And Len likes it too – but thought it could have been tighter. I don’t disagree with that.

8’s?? Seriously? Good lord, if Janel had done that dance she would have gotten straight 10s. And yay, are they going last cuz they’re gonna kiss?? gag.

Janel is getting the “You did awesome” edit.

Ridiculously long time of them not dancing in an already shortened routine. And she just seriously stumbled, and got dragged by Val.

Okay, Julianne, you are on SERIOUS crack. REALLY? The fix is either all the way in or Janel is going home. She didn’t start dancing for a LONG time!! And Val dragged her at one point!! Best dance of the night??? Does anyone still think she’s not being pimped??? This is absolutely the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen. They noted an actual MISTAKE!!

Alfonso just did a perfect Paso. Let’s see if he actually rates a perfect score. That was amazing. Whitney is turning into one hell of a choreographer.

Now they got something right. You want to tell me that Janel’s quickstep was only two points down from that?? As if.

Tommy makes me laugh so hard. That was just so silly and funny. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared he might break something.

Lea’s Trio was massively improved over her first dance, IMO. Well done for her.

Wow. That was intense. I dug it.

Let me guess…a kiss and a mistake get 10’s yet a pretty flawless AT will get all 9’s. A dance with noted mistakes gets called best dance of the night by CAI and she nitpicks a superior (in every way) dance.

Wow…that was some beautiful choreography from Mark. Sadie had an obvious mistake at the end but she covered it well. She better get a great score, if Janel can fuck up and get 10’s.

Yes, I AM going to harp on that for the rest of the night. It was disgraceful.

Okay, we’re doing some serious story boarding here. Two dances with VERY obvious mistakes have been scored as good or higher than dances with no actual errors. I adore Sadie – and she’s been underscored all season long, so I can forgive that a bit more. But man. This is getting ridiculous. Bethany must be killing it in the votes.

Again. Julianne says there was not a lot of content but she doesn’t care. COME ON!! Judge the damn show!! Either she’s going home, or they are desperate for her to get to the finale over Tommy. This is beyond ridiculous.

So, a woman who did a dance that had an obvious mistake and a dance that was lacking in content is at the top of the leader board with Alfonso? Yeah, that’s fair.

SPOILERS –

As everyone predicted, Lea is the one to go home this week.

I am furious. That is all.

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I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

Heh. Almost forgot about this post. Not that it matters since everything is out there anyway.

I got some of the info on the dances from various videos, some from Wiki – if you see anything wrong, let me know. I was traveling a large part of the week, as was Courtney, as a result we lost track a bit. 🙂 There were a few days where I didn’t know which end was up.

I will say that it will be interesting to see how Janel will do with the quickstep, where the frame is so important. She’s gotten away with not having to worry about that overly much – and straight up said that was why she was glad she got contemporary. I think Beth will be fine and I have a feeling Alfonso will be back at the top of the leaderboard – we’ll see. Lea’s dances are why I’m afraid that even if she does make it through this week, she won’t make the finale. Samba? Yikes. Paso maybe better for her. I also expect a lot from Sadie’s Jive. Again, we’ll see.

ETA: So, Alfonso is going first – I think he safely can, with no issues.

ETA2: Not sure on which versions of those songs are being used, so I guessed. 🙂

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I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

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I'm a fashion and music fan....and I have always loved dancing too of any kind. Dancing With The Stars seems to have this way of bringing all of those things together. One of my favorite dancing quotes at the moment: "No matter what, nobody can take away the dance you've already had...." ~Gleb Savchenko . To view my photography site, see Lisa Kay Photography.

Yes, I do think that the scores were determined in advance by the judges because they wanted to keep Janel safe for another two weeks. Did they know it was necessary? Does it matter? I’m not sure the judges know, but at the end of the day, they underscored Sadie, in particular, relative to Janel. Janel’s dance was good, but if it was a dance worthy of a perfect score, so was Sadie’s and Alfonso’s – and Bethany’s for that matter. But perhaps those three don’t need the help, eh?

By giving Janel 43 points last week, they’ve essentially sent her all the way to the semi-finals based on one less than perfect dance. Saved her for last week AND this coming week. This way, it is likely they get their preferred finale of Alfonso, Sadie, Bethany and Janel – sucks to be Lea and Tommy, barring someone not getting the votes we think they are. The semi-final scoring will tell the tale. If Janel suddenly isn’t all that great, it means she ain’t getting the vote (like we suspect) – after all, the judges want to be RIGHT. They want their preferred finale, but in the end they want their scores to be close to how the votes are going. Pride.

Anyway, I can’t even work up any righteous indignation about this anymore. It’s so predictable. Young actress works for ABC = Semi-final, whether she deserves it or not. And really, she is dancing better than Lea right now – I just don’t *LIKE* her. Not only do I get stealth mean girl vibe, but that gross showmance she had going on with Val was just annoying after a season centered on an over the top showmance. Yuck.

But, on to the scores. Who’s got what and how much damage did the judges do this past week? Read more..

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I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

Share this:

I'm a fashion and music fan....and I have always loved dancing too of any kind. Dancing With The Stars seems to have this way of bringing all of those things together. One of my favorite dancing quotes at the moment: "No matter what, nobody can take away the dance you've already had...." ~Gleb Savchenko . To view my photography site, see Lisa Kay Photography.

“Episode 1909” — The six remaining couples on “Dancing with the Stars” will dance to a song and dance style voted on by viewers for “AMERICA’S CHOICE” night on MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10 (8:00-10:01 p.m., ET). For the first time ever, America has creative control of the couples’ first dance, asking fans throughout the week via Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for their input on wardrobe, set design and visual effects. Each couple will perform two full routines including an individual original dance and a trio dance. For the trio dance, couples had the opportunity to pick an eliminated pro or troupe member to enhance their performance and highlight the strengths of each star. The trio dance styles include the Argentine Tango, Paso Doble, Samba and Foxtrot. At the end of the night, one couple will be eliminated and five couples will move on to the semi-finals.

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I'm a fashion and music fan....and I have always loved dancing too of any kind. Dancing With The Stars seems to have this way of bringing all of those things together. One of my favorite dancing quotes at the moment: "No matter what, nobody can take away the dance you've already had...." ~Gleb Savchenko . To view my photography site, see Lisa Kay Photography.